BCCI has announced a new schedule for Sri Lanka series
The revised schedule for the T20I and Test series against Sri Lanka has been released by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). According to the revised schedule, the T20Is will come before the Test series. India will face Sri Lanka in three Twenty20 Internationals and two Tests beginning in the final week of February at four different locations around the country.
The BCCI has stated that the second Test, which would be a pink-ball encounter, will take held in Bengaluru. This will be India’s third pink-ball Test, after the matches against Bangladesh in 2019 and England in 2021.
Originally, Sri Lanka was scheduled to begin their tour of India with a two-match series in Mohali on February 25 and then return to Mohali for the second Test on March 5. However, because Sri Lanka is playing T20Is in Australia, the visitors will be permitted to shift their T20i team players from bubble to bubble. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is said to have asked the BCCI to modify the calendar and replace the Tests with T20Is.
“Sri Lanka will initially play a three-match T20I series, followed by a two-match Test series as part of the ICC World Test Championship, 2021-23,” the BCCI stated in a release.
The first T20I will be contested on February 24 at Lucknow’s Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium, with the following two T20Is taking place in Dharmsala on February 26 and 27.
The first Test will now be played at Mohali from March 4 to 8, and the second in Bengaluru from March 12 to 16. A significant milestone for Virat Kohli will be playing his 100th Test in Mohali. During India’s tour of South Africa in January, the former captain was set to achieve the milestone but was side-lined with a back injury during the third match of the series.